A Test of Survival
by metallicgirl42
Summary: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Andrea are going on a schoolorganized test of survival in the wilderness. How will they survive? Please read and review!
1. An Announcement

P.S. This story was written with help from my friend Claire. Thanks, Claire—I couldn't have done it without you!! 



Chapter One (The Announcement)… 

"I think I'm coming down with a cold," said Hermione, sniffing and reaching for a napkin.

"Ask Madam Pomfrey for a Pepperup Potion!" said Harry concernedly.

"No, it's not that bad," she replied, "it's just a c—"

But then she stopped. "Guys, shh! Dumbledore's making an announcement."

Sure enough, the headmaster was standing up. Hermione pressed her finger to her lips, sniffed again, reached for another napkin, and then sat upright.

Harry, Ron, and Andrea, Harry's long-lost sister, looked at each other for a minute, shrugged, and listened too.

"I have a very important announcement to make," Dumbledore said.

Malfoy sniggered, but Dumbledore wasn't listening.

"We're going to have a little bit of a field trip," he said. "It's more of a test. I'm sure you all are going to pass it fine. Minerva…explain?"

"Thank you, Albus," said Professor McGonagall, standing up. "This is going to be a test of your wits in the outdoors without magic. It is to teach you what life is like for Muggles. The fifth years will be put into teams of twos and threes and set out in the wilderness for two days. On the evening of the second day, Hagrid will pick you up. Since you will be in an environment controlled by the school, no serious harm will befall you. If nothing goes wrong, we will be continuing this next year.

"You will need to give your parent or guardian a permission form to sign to say you can go on this field trip. You must send it to them by owl, since the mailman doesn't come here. The trip will be in seven days, so I daresay that will be enough time. After the trip is done, you will have a day off from your studies, a day of rest, if you will."

There was whispering among the students, but then Dumbledore raised his arms for silence, and the school shut up.

"Thank _you_, Minerva," said Dumbledore gracefully, and he said to the students, "Now, kindly continue eating your dinner."

"That sounds like a great learning experience," said Hermione thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but it sounds dangerous," Ron replied.

"Oh, Ronnie," Andrea said. "I hope I'm on a team with _you_!"

"Don't be silly, Andrea, they won't be putting us in coed teams," Hermione scoffed, watching as two of her three best friends started to kiss again. Ron and Andrea had been going out for a long time—ever since Harry's first year, they had known how much they loved each other. Harry was going with Hermione, too, but they didn't kiss quite as much. Hermione turned to Harry. "Do you think it sounds fun?"

"Sort of," he said, continuing his dinner.



When dinner was over, and the students were filing out of the hall, the Heads of Houses handed out the permission slips to the students. As McGonagall handed out a permission slip to Hermione, Andrea, Harry, and Ron each, Hermione was talking to Andrea about how educational this was going to be, Ron was sighing, but Harry was watching Malfoy. He heard Malfoy say to Crabbe and Goyle, as Snape shoved a permission slip into his hands, "I can't believe he's making us go on this trip. It's Dumbledore's dumbest idea yet. My father will never let me go on this trip…"

"Really, Malfoy?" said Harry loudly. "Afraid of roughing it?"

"NO!" Malfoy said angrily.

"Well, then you should send that permission slip right away," Ron told him, joining in.

"I don't NEED to!" said Malfoy. "I could survive in the wilderness for _ten_ days with my hands tied behind my back!"

"Here, then," said Andrea. She grabbed Malfoy's permission slip and filled it out, trying to make her handwriting as boyish as possible.

"This is what I'm writing," she said. "Here's a note at the bottom. '_Dear Father and Mother_, _I am not afraid of roughing it in the wilderness_. _I sent this permission slip right away_! _I could survive in the wilderness for ten days with my hands behind my back_. _Make sure you sign this permission slip so I can go on the survival trip_. _Love_, _your little boy_, _Draco_.'

"See?" she said. "I already did it for you!"

"HEY!" screamed Malfoy. "GIVE THAT BACK, POTTER!"

"Here, Hedwig!" called Harry. "Here!"

Hermione pulled some Owl Treats out of her bag. "Here, Hedwig! Harry has some nice Owl Treats for you and Pigwidgeon!"

Some seconds passed. Then, Hedwig and Pigwidgeon came flying into the corridor leading out of the Great Hall, obviously led there by the Owl Treats.

Harry let Hedwig perch on Hermione's arm (Hermione was the one feeding Hedwig the Owl Treats) and Pigwidgeon twittered around Ron's head.

"Here!" yelled Ron. "Just EAT them!"

"Okay. Anyway," said Andrea, "I definitely don't want you to have to go to the trouble of sending this letter to your parents, Malfoy…so why don't _I_ just send it?"

"NO! LET _ME_ SEND IT!!!"

"Too late," said Harry in a satisfied tone of voice. "Hedwig, try to find Malfoy's manor. Can you do that for us?"

Hedwig clicked her beak and pecked Harry's finger affectionately, and then off she flew into the sky, Malfoy howling with rage.


	2. Getting Ready for the Trip

Chapter 2 (Getting Ready)…

Back up in Harry and Ron's dorm room, Hermione, Andrea, and Ginny were visiting them.

"I wish I could go on that trip," said Ginny wistfully.

"You can next year," Harry told her.

"If everything goes right," Hermione reminded him. She was filling out her permission slip while one of the school owls waited patiently beside her. Ron was sending Pigwidgeon to the Burrow, and Harry and Andrea were using another school owl to send their two permission forms to Sirius, since Hedwig was off delivering Malfoy's permission slip.

"That was really funny, what you did to Malfoy, though," Ginny added.

"I know…now he'll have to go on the trip!" said Ron with satisfaction. "Wouldn't it be funny if he wandered off in the wilderness and never came back?"

"That's not funny, Ron," said Hermione sharply. "Not even with Malfoy."

"Hey, Ron?" said Harry. "I think we should use Pigwidgeon for Sirius's delivery, since he knows him. I don't know if the school owl will know where to go, you know?"

"Yeah, you're right," Ron agreed. "Here, school owl, just go to Ottery St. Catchpole, The Burrow."

"Pigwidgeon, give these two permission slips to Sirius," Andrea said, handing said permission slips to Pigwidgeon, who twittered again and flew off.

Hermione finished filling out her form and attached it to the leg of the school owl, who flew off. Ginny watched him go.

"I still wish I could go on the school trip…" she told them.

"Well, you know, you can go next year, if it all goes well," Ron told her.

Just then, Dean, Seamus, and Neville came in the dorm room.

"We've got the partners!" said Dean.

"Yeah, and we three are a team," Seamus added, showing a paper to them.

"Hey, what are _you_ guys doing in here?" Neville asked the three girls sitting on Harry's bed.

"Girls are allowed in the boys' dorm rooms," Andrea informed them.

"Anyway," Dean said, sitting down on the bed, "Harry and Ron, you guys are a team. But you guys had better get back to your room, Andrea and Hermione, because they're going to give you the list of your partners."

"All the Gryffindors are with Gryffindors, right?" Hermione asked him rather nervously.

"Of course," he replied. "And Slytherins with Slytherins, et cetera."

"That's lucky," said Harry. "Imagine, being stuck in the wilderness with nobody but Malfoy for two whole days…"

"That would suck," said Ron.

"Where are you going?" asked Harry; Ginny, Andrea, and Hermione were moving toward the dorm room door.

"We're seeing our pairings, remember?" Hermione reminded him, half laughing.

"Oh yeah," Ron said. "Where are you going, Ginny?"

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Ginny told them. "Tell me your pairings in the morning, okay, you guys?"

"Okay," Harry assured her.

"I think she's really disappointed about not getting to go," Hermione said.

"She thinks they won't have it next year, I guess," Andrea added, shrugging. "Oh well. She'll only be missing us for two days, and she's got her own friends."



One or two minutes later, Hermione and Andrea rushed back into Harry and Ron's dorm room.

"We got partnered together!" Hermione cried.

"Was there any surprise?" Harry said, smiling at her.

"And Lavender and Parvati got together, of course," Andrea continued. "I guess Dumbledore tries to put people with their friends, if he can help it."

"It's really nice of him," Hermione added.

"Yeah!" Ron said, and high-fived Harry.

Hermione suddenly sneezed.

"Are you sure you aren't going to go to Madame Pomfrey?" asked Ron.

"No, I'm okay," she said, smiling, and then Andrea stifled a yawn.

"Come on, Herm," she said. "We'd better go to bed. Goodnight, Ronnie!"

She gave "Ronnie" a huge kiss, and Hermione kissed Harry's cheek, and then the two of them left Harry and Ron's dorm room together.

"You know," said Ron, as they got into bed, "I'm going to miss them on our trip."

"Yeah," Harry agreed, "me, too."


	3. Hermione and Andrea, Part 1

Chapter 3 (Hermione and Andrea, Part 1)…

"Time for breakfast, guys!" said Ron, as he met his three best friends in the Gryffindor common room.

"We're going to go on the train tomorrow," said Hermione, sounding worried. Her parents had sent her letter back yesterday, but Mr. and Mrs. Weasley still hadn't sent the other school owl back with the form, and Sirius hadn't sent back Pigwidgeon with Harry and Ron's permission slips yet, either.

"They'll probably be back soon," Andrea told her.

"Sirius is probably a long way away," added Harry. "Anyway, it's time for breakfast. Let's see what happens when Hedwig comes back with Malfoy's letter."

"He's afraid of roughing it," said Ron with satisfaction. "I can just tell."

"Well of course he is," Hermione told him. "I'm glad you sent his letter for him, Andrea, since he didn't want to go. Malfoy definitely would have found some way for his permission slip to get 'lost'."

"Ha," said Andrea.

When they were finally in the Great Hall, the post owls arrived. (Pigwidgeon almost knocked over Harry's cereal bowl in his haste to get to him and Andrea). Luckily, Pigwidgeon and Hedwig arrived with Harry's, Andrea's, and Malfoy's permission slips; the school owl returned with Ron's, which meant, of course, that he had managed to find the right house. Sirius said Harry and Andrea could go on the trip (they high-fived each other); Ron's mother said she didn't want him to go because he might get lost, but it was a great learning experience so she was simply forced to let him go; Malfoy's dad said the trip was a dumb idea (as Malfoy announced as loud as he could to the whole Hall), but he could still go if he really wanted to.

"Great!" said Harry. "Now we can all go."



The next day, they boarded the train just after breakfast. It went to a remote location the school had set up especially for this trip. Hagrid was escorting the people to their campsites.

"Hi!" he said cheerfully. "Harry, Ron, you're over here…"

He waved them off.

"Bye, Andrea," said Ron.

"Gosh, it's only for two days!" called Hermione.

"Bye, Ronnie!" called Andrea.

"See you in two days, Hermione!" said Harry. He didn't really want to see her go; but this was a school project, and he had signed up for it, after all. It was to see how well they could do in the wilderness without using magic at all.

"You too!" said Hermione, blowing a kiss. Hagrid, smiling, led Hermione and Andrea to their campground.

"Where are we staying, Hagrid?" asked Hermione.

"In this campsite," Hagrid told them. "Here's your rule book. Every group gets a rule book, and—oh no, I forgot Harry and Ron's rule book!"

"You better hurry, they're already leaving," Andrea told him. Hagrid ran after Harry and Ron, who were talking as they headed off to their campsite.

"Harry! Ron!" Hagrid yelled. "I forgot your rule book!"

"Oh…thanks…" said Harry, catching it as Hagrid threw it to him.

"And here's your rule book, girls," said Hagrid, panting slightly, and giving Hermione and Andrea their rule book.

"Thanks," said Hermione, catching and opening it.

"Well, bye," said Hagrid, leaving.

"We're on our own now," Andrea said, sounding slightly nervous.

"Don't worry," Hermione told her. "It's only for two days. Let's look at the rule book first, though, because I'm sure they'll have ways to find out if we do anything against the rules."

Hermione read aloud:

"Rule No. 1: No using magic.

"Rule No. 2: No killing any animals (that includes fishing).

"Rule No. 3: No visiting other campsites.

"Rule No. 4: No damaging of your or others' campsite."

Andrea smiled. "Well…okay. We just can't use magic, can't kill any animals, can't visit anybody in their campsite, and can't damage our or others' campsite."

"We'll have to make a fire and cook some berries and stuff," Hermione told her.

"Wait a minute…" said Andrea. "If we're here outside in the wilderness for two whole days, aren't we going to get smelly? Yuck."

"Yeah, you know, I was wondering that, too," Hermione said. "There must be a place where we can take a bath, like a pond or something."

"Over there!" cried Andrea, pointing to a little creek. It was nice; it was good for taking a bath.

"Good job," said Hermione. "I guess they _did_ set everything up for us, didn't they?"

"They sure did," Andrea agreed. "We just had to find it."

"There are probably some other things we _shouldn't_ find, though," Hermione told her. "Like poison oak…and look! Poisonberries."

"What?" Andrea asked.

"Look, I know those berries from when I was little," Hermione said, pointing to some shriveled-looking berries that were hanging innocently on a tree nearby. "They're berries that are delicious and perfectly okay to eat, but you'll get a horrible rash, a rash worse than poison oak, if you touch them."

"So how are we supposed to eat them?" Andrea asked.

"Well…" Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well, we'll find a way."


End file.
